Brescia is known throughout the world mainly for the entrepreneurial skills of its inhabitants and for the flourishing iron industry, yet it will surprise you with palaces, monuments and churches that testify to its long history.
Perhaps here it took place the tragedy of Ermengarda, the repudiated wife of Charlemagne, daughter of the last Longobard king Desiderio, whose figure is evoked by the presence of the monastery of S.Salvatore, now home to the museum of Santa Giulia.

From the large square on which the monk Arnaldo watches with a severe eye, we move towards the “Via dei Musei”, ancient decumanus maximum of the city, where stands the museum of Santa Giulia, memory of the city and guardian of ancient treasures: the Roman domus of Ortaglia, the Lombard basilica of San Salvatore, the Romanesque Santa Maria in Solario which houses the famous Croce di Desiderio.

The so-called “Unesco Corridor” introduces us to the great ruins of the Roman Brixia: the Capitolium, with its bronze statue” La vittoria alata”, and then the remains of the theater and the Forum.

Also the Middle Age is represented with the ancient Broletto and Piazza Paolo VI, with the old Duomo, also called the Rotonda, because of its cylindrical shape; next to it stands the baroque façade of the new Duomo, shining in white Botticino marble.

A sheltered street with fancy shops takes us to the Renaissance Piazza della Loggia with the “Macc de le ure”, a century long tradition worthy to be discovered.

From here, in a few steps, you can reach Piazza della Vittoria, an example of rationalist architecture,  by Marcello Piacentini, the same architect who designed the modern center of Bergamo several years before.

Visiting Brescia is not only a tourist destination but a real journey through the centuries!